The present invention relates to digital televisions, and more particularly, to methods and apparatus for providing television signals by employing antenna diversity mechanisms.
As conventional analog video broadcasting is transforming into digital video broadcasting (DVB), digital televisions or set-top boxes (STB) have become popular household appliances. Many families may have two or more televisions in their houses. Those televisions may be installed in the living room, bedroom, or even in the bathroom.
In the related art, a common antenna is typically arranged outdoors or on the rooftop for receiving digital television signals. The received digital television signals are then transmitted to the television or set-top box (STB) in the house through cables wired to the common antenna. The outdoor antenna has a good receiving performance but is usually large and inconvenient to install. Moreover, the complexity and cost of wiring the cables are thorny problems.
Additionally, as information intensity increases, televisions only able to display a single picture may not satisfy the requirement of TV users any more. In view of this, supporting the picture-in-picture (PIP) function is a desirable feature for digital televisions. There is, therefore, a need for methods and apparatus that provide television signals with PIP function support.